05/29/2013

Venezuela missing necessities of life: toilet paper, wine

It quite possibly can't get any worse than this in Venezuela -- not only has the South American nation recently faced a toilet paper shortage, now, they are running out of wine.

The Catholic Church is fearful they may soon have no wine, the symbolic blood of Christ, for Sunday mass.

Behold what Monsignor Lucker told BBC News: "(Our supplier) Bodegas Pomar have told us that they can no longer make
wine because they're facing difficulties."

The Catholic News Agency reported that while Venezuela is "not a country
known for the production of wine" the only national supplier has told
the Bishops they will not be able to meet the demand for wine used for
mass due to a shortage of ingredients.

The BBC also reported the Venezuelan arm of the church was unsure if they could afford importing wine from abroad.

A man carries toilet paper in a supermarket in Caracas on May 17.(REUTERS/Jorge Silva)

The country has experienced a number of food shortages of late from butter, to milk, coffee and cooking oil. Recently, the Associated Press reported the socialist Venezuelan government promised to import 50 million rolls of toilet papers to boost supplies as the store shelves were bare.

Price controls and controls on foreign currency are to blame for a shortage of imported goods, economists say.

Consumers are fed up. As Manuel Fagundes told the AP as he hunted for toilet paper in Caracas: “This is the last straw. I’m 71 years old and this is the first time
I’ve seen this.”

Tanya Talaga is the Star's global economics reporter. Follow her on Twitter @tanyatalaga

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